Deputy House Speaker and Bacolod Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said he is looking forward to the completion of Bacolod City’s first underground cabling project soon, almost two years since the groundbreaking.
Initiated by the Negros Electric and Power Corp. (Negros Power), the kilometer-long Lacson Street Underground Distribution System Project is 85 percent complete, based on the overall progress report.
“We have been working with the Negros Power and major telco and internet companies to transfer overhead cables to underground facilities. Soon, we will enjoy a safer, more reliable and better connection,” he said in a statement on Thursday, August 13.
Benitez, who pushed for the project when he was the city mayor from 2022 to 2025, thanked Negros Power, along with the major telecommunications companies and internet service providers Converge ICT Solutions, DITO Telecommunity, PLDT-Smart and Globe Telecom, for supporting the initiative.
“With their solid partnership, we will be able to transfer overhead cables to underground facilities, starting with the full removal of utility posts along the one-kilometer stretch of Lacson Street seamlessly and with urgency,” he added.
Benitez said the project will not only improve Bacolod City’s aesthetics, but will also lessen the risk of dangerous shocks and make the city’s connections safe from weather damage.
The first-of-its-kind in this city, the underground cabling project broke ground in November 2024 and started work in January 2025.
The PHP79-million project cost comprises PHP43 million for civil and electrical works, and PHP36 million for reconfiguration and removal of overhead wires.
Before he stepped down as mayor in June 2025, Benitez signed the ordinance establishing underground cabling in the city.
Authored by now Vice Mayor Claudio Jesus Puentevella, the ordinance provides that “it shall be the priority program of the city government of Bacolod to undertake efforts to construct and institute underground cabling for all power and telecommunication networks operating in the city.” *PNA
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